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July 22, 2002
More Say Yes to Foreign Service, but Not to Hardship Assignments
By CHRISTOPHER MARQUIS
W ASHINGTON, July 21 Despite a record number of people applying to
join the Foreign Service since Sept. 11, the State Department is
having a difficult time filling hardship posts overseas, as American
diplomats shun jobs over security and lifestyle concerns.
The problem is especially acute in countries like Pakistan and Saudi
Arabia, whose strategic importance has surged because of the United
States-led campaign against terrorism.
The former American ambassador to Pakistan, Wendy Chamberlin, resigned
her post in May after security concerns kept her separated from her
two teenage daughters. In Saudi Arabia, a combination of geographic
isolation and repressive social dictates has discouraged applications
and left in place an unqualified staff, according to a new study by
the General Accounting Office.
But the problem is far broader. Sixty percent of American embassies
and consulates are designated hardship posts for reasons including
security threats, poor hospitals and schools, and oppressive weather.
From Nigeria to Kazakhstan to China, all considered hardship
assignments, American missions report a vacancy rate 50 percent higher
than in more developed nations.
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell is overseeing a recruiting drive to
hire hundreds of Foreign Service officers. In an encouraging sign,
more than three times the normal number of applicants have taken the
Foreign Service exam since the terror attacks on Sept. 11, propelled,
officials say, by a surge of patriotism.
But interviews with new Foreign Service officers underscore a
conundrum. While the newly minted diplomats are more eager than ever
to serve their country and even express interest in hardship
assignments, they are quick to say they would avoid places that might
pose a risk to their families.
A typical response is that of Heidi Arola, who begins training as a
Foreign Service officer in September. Ms. Arola, a former Peace Corps
volunteer, is more willing than many to take a post in a country with
few amenities, but she draws the line at security. "Serving at a post
with high security risks does concern me though, as I am sure is true
for most officers," she said.
State Department officials say that staffing certain posts abroad has
long been tricky and has required a certain amount of coercion and
finesse. But the problem has been worsened by a general shortage of
employees, the product of flat State Department budgets through much
of the 1990's. Secretary Powell hopes to hire 1,158 new employees by
2004.
"When you have a lot more jobs than people to fill them, they can pick
and choose," said Ralph Frank, the State Department's director of
career development and assignments. "They say, `Given the choice, I'd
rather have Paris.' "
Mr. Frank is developing a proposal to make hardship posts more
attractive, including higher pay, shorter tours and more home leave.
The study by the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of
Congress, found that staffing shortfalls in hardship posts have
resulted in junior officers working well above their pay grade or
skill level, leaving sensitive work in the hands of inexperienced
diplomats.
In Kiev, Ukraine, for example, about half the Foreign Service
positions were filled by inexperienced officers, with several of them
working in jobs at least two levels above their grades.
As the State Department scrambles to fill the holes, it is turning to
employees who do not have adequate language skills. In China, 62
percent of the Foreign Service officers did not meet the language
proficiency requirements for their positions, the G.A.O. found. In
Russia, 41 percent of the officers do not speak Russian.
Even diplomats whose chief duty is to explain American policy to
foreign populations are often unable to speak the language. In
Pakistan, five public diplomacy positions in three cities were held by
employees with insufficient language skills, the G.A.O. found. In
Saudi Arabia, the head of public outreach for an American consulate
spoke no Arabic.
The overall result is that American diplomacy is compromised at a time
when it most needs to be effective, as Washington presses for progress
toward peace in the Middle East, seeks to thwart terrorist attacks
around the globe, and plans for an invasion of Iraq.
"Ultimately, when this happens over and over again in hundreds of
slots in the world, it has to have an effect on our ability to
accomplish our foreign policy objectives," said Representative Vic
Snyder, an Arkansas Democrat who requested the G.A.O. study, which was
released in June.
The situation may have immediate implications in the effort to secure
American borders in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks. Employees
in consular positions abroad many in entry-level jobs in hardship
posts are responsible for screening about 10 million visa applicants a
year.
Last year, the State Department's inspector general warned that
inexperienced consular officers in Guinea and Mali two chronically
understaffed hardship posts in Africa had failed to detect
fraudulent-visa rings.
Although career officers are supposed to be available for posting
anywhere in the world, the current assignment system allows them to
bid on posts. In analyzing data for this summer, the G.A.O. found that
non-hardship posts like London, Toronto, Madrid, The Hague and
Canberra, Australia, were highly sought, with 25 to 40 bids for each
opening.
But numerous hardship posts received two bids or fewer, including
Karachi, Pakistan; Shenyang, China; Lagos, Nigeria; and Jidda, Saudi
Arabia. In the 2002 assignments cycle, 74 midlevel positions had no
bidders, including 15 jobs in China and 10 in Russia, the G.A.O.
found.
"People are all too willing to take the comfy job rather than get out
on the cutting edge of diplomacy," said Dennis Hays, a former
ambassador to Suriname and a veteran of several hardship assignments.
"People look at you as if you're insane if you talk about going to
Pakistan or Somalia."
While the department has a procedure for forced, or "directed,"
assignments, only a few dozen jobs are filled that way. Directed
assignments can backfire, diplomats say, as employees quit or retire
early or contend they are unable to relocate because of health or
family reasons.
Instead, the department relies on financial incentives and allows
junior officers to advance their careers by working above their grades
in hardship posts.
The financial incentives for hardship service range from 5 percent to
25 percent of base pay. A midlevel Foreign Service officer earning
$50,000 a year would be entitled to an additional $2,500 in Malta (a 5
percent differential), $7,500 in the Philippines (15 percent) and
$12,500 in Angola (25 percent). In addition, the department offers
danger pay in 15 nations with differentials as high as 25 percent in
countries like Afghanistan and the former Yugoslavia.
Department officials concede that those incentives are often
insufficient. Diplomats with working spouses "literally take a pay cut
to go overseas," said Mr. Frank, the assignments director. Pay aside,
spouses may object to moves that they expect will impede their own
career development.
Meanwhile, ambassadors are reduced to wheeling and dealing to fill
critical posts. Robert S. Gelbard, who recently retired as ambassador
to Indonesia, said he had a hard time finding officers to serve as his
political counselor in Jakarta or chief of the American mission in
East Timor.
"The system is so dysfunctional that it really requires a combination
of horse-trading and personal relationships to make it work," he said.
The State Department is relying on officers like Lonnie Kelley Jr. to
hold down the fort until reinforcements can be hired, trained and
lured abroad.
Mr. Kelley, the press officer at the American Consulate in Karachi,
had barely settled into his post when Daniel Pearl, a Wall Street
Journal reporter, was kidnapped in January and slain by Islamic
militants. As much of the American staff was evacuated from Pakistan,
Mr. Kelley saw his life increasingly constrained by convoys of
security vehicles. The simplest tasks shopping, contacts with
Pakistanis became difficult.
"These are the hardships we face and are willing to because of our
dedication to our country, not for the reward," said Mr. Kelley, a
10-year Foreign Service veteran. "We want to be a part of this effort
to keep America great and free of terrorism."
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